Glossodia major

Here is the matching partner to yesterday's blog.
Glossodia major - the Waxlip Orchid.


Forgive this brief Blog posting, but I am rushing out for a while. But I could not resist matching yesterday's posting with this plant I found two weeks ago at Thirlmere Lakes (where I am going as soon as I finish this post).

A nice tall stem, about 20 cm high
with two flowers.
Well deserving the title "major".

Here is the flower, more or less as one sees it with the natural eye.
And here is is through the Macro Lens.
Please click on the image to see it fully.
Note the densely embossed white patch on the labellum.
It is in fact covered with very densely set fibres.
Above the Labellum there is a yellow protruding callus with two lobes
giving it a Y shaped form.
The top part of this illustration is the bright yellow object
you can see clearly in the image above (if you clicked it).

This is completely different from the two lumps
on the labellum of yesterday's plant.

I was fortunate to find this plant when the sun was dull, (behind clouds).
It can be so shiny, (reflective) in full sun that it is hard to photograph
without getting massive patches of reflected light.
Frequently one has to stand over the plant
to photograph it in one's own shadow - it can be that shiny.